[SOLVED] Dell Inspiron 1545 DVD drive can write but not read media

This is a discussion on [SOLVED] Dell Inspiron 1545 DVD drive can write but not read media within the Laptop Support forums, part of the Tech Support Forum category. Hello Tech,
I have a dell inspiron 1545 laptop and for the first 1 1/2 yrs the dvd drive was

I have a dell inspiron 1545 laptop and for the first 1 1/2 yrs the dvd drive was able to read and write media, but for the past yr I am not able to read dvd media, only write. I insert a blank cd or dvd disc and i'm able to write media to it but after burning an i reinsert the burnt dvd, the service light comes on and you can hear and feel the dics spinning and after a while the light goes out and it stops spinning and i'm not able to view the contents on the dvd either thru windows explorer. if i insert a burnt cd dics i can read that fine..........the prob is just can't read burnt dvd.......can write but can't read...already upgraded the bios and cd/dvd firmware from the dell website to the latest version and still no luck. changed the OS using bootable flashdrive and still no luck.....please help

yes I took all my dvd that was burnt using my laptop to a friend and his read it with no prob..........that is how I can get my stuffs them off the disc I burnt......the DVD that I have my stuffs stored on are DVD that i had burnt couple months after I first purchased the laptop. the laptop was able to read them after I burnt them for like the first yr and now can't read the same disc that it use to read.......most of them are not new stuffs burnt.....there are stuff I always been using before.......... I recently burnt some using the same DVD type DVD-R and still it will not read them as it will not read the previous ones.

What type of DVD's are you using (DVD-R, DVD+R) you drive may be incompatible with the kind you are using.

Restart your computer and hold F12 for the boot menu and select Diagnostic (depending on your version) your computer can test the DVD drive for faults and alert you to any problems.

Thanks,
Altie

I restarted and that is another problem cause i don't have the dell diagnostic option to run..........so I downloaded d latest version from the dell website and installed it on a flash drive but can't get it to boot from the flash that the dell diagnostic was installed on.

If Joeten's link fails then im sure its going to be a hardware issue, Might be time to replace the disk drive, Do you have another that you can test this with?

Thanks,
Altie

no I don't have another drive that i can currently test it with...........I guess if all fails then indeed I will need to buy me an external drive since I might not be able to find and replace the current drive installed in my laptop.

yes it has the option to boot from USB and that is the option I select when I restart my laptop but it still went ahead and boot from the internal HDD like it was not able to detect the USB drive being bootable...........I used the utility from the dell website to create the bootable flash drive.........only next prob is that it did not make the USB drive bootable. I have used the USB drive to install my OS several times successfully since my drive will not read the DVD.

no I don't have another drive that i can currently test it with...........I guess if all fails then indeed I will need to buy me an external drive since I might not be able to find and replace the current drive installed in my laptop.

I have had a look on ebay and this drive should be a direct replacment for your dell: (if all else fails)

I ran the scan with this tool Fix problems with CD or DVD drives that can and after about 2 hours the result came back stating that it fixed the error causing the problem.........so I reboot and tried couple of the DVDs and to my surprise it worked flawless as before.............went out for a few hours....came back an turned on my laptop and tried the same DVD along with others and it went rite back to the state it was in before.......can't read the DVDs

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